Why am I so enamoured with the Turks and their get-up? The Turkish Get-Up teaches and enhances shoulder stability (both open and closed chain) and mobility, core stability and hip mobility in several planes and lower body strength. It is also an incredible exercise in patience, control and focus and is an excellent way to start most training sessions. But, how I feel about it will not necessarily make you want to do it. So why should you do it?
“What the heck Gav? Why are you worried about my pelvis?”
Before we get into it, I want to define what I call “back pain”. This is my own definition and should not be taken as fact, but as one professional’s opinion. Back pain is anything that causes discomfort in the lumbar (lower) region of the spine, on one or both sides, that may or may not radiate elsewhere such as down the leg. There is acute back pain; that which can be traced back to a specific incident (i.e. picking up your grandson) and there is chronic back pain. This is the lingering, sometimes terrible/often annoying/always-there pain that can cause both physical and psychological issues to do with physical activity.
Many people I see doing their own programming are one of two types of people. The first is those who are always looking for the next big thing. This program will finally be the one to get them jacked… until the next one they find two weeks later. This does not allow you to improve upon anything and therefore, you never end up moving forward. The other type of people are those who stick to the same routine for way too long. Things become stagnant, people hit plateaus and they may even become bored and call it quits.
The following advice will work for either of these populations.
Today’s content comes from an in-depth conversation I had with some close family and friends last weekend about how tough it is to sit all day at work. Upon researching the topic – and as you’ll see below – things look pretty bleak. But keep reading because I provide some tips on how to manage your time better and beat the daunted “sitting disease”.
I am a Physiotherapist at Ness Physiotherapy. I also hold a degree in Kinesiology and Applied Health, with numerous years of personal training and sport coaching experience. I am honoured to write a guest post for Gavin on his awesome new website, and to share some more information regarding low back pain and some of the structural issues behind them.
For the past year and a half, due to a number of factors, I have started dabbling in the commercial gym world. I knew there would be a culture shock of sorts but I did not know to what extent. Call me a snob, but I’ve worked at (and lived close by) a 5,500 square foot private facility with more equipment than any meathead could ever ask for since I finished university.
So, how come every time I go to a local commercial gym, I always see someone doing something that makes me shake my head in shame?